Monthly Archives: November 2009

Dorothy Day passed away on November 29, 1980, after nearly a half-century of leading by word and example the Catholic Worker movement. Dorothy is “up for sainthood” in the Catholic Church, and many who have not otherwise known of her life and work have become familiar with her and the Catholic Worker movement through the effort to have her named a saint.

On this day, the anniversary of her death, we share with you a short prayer sent to us by a friend in New Jersey:

Prayer for the Intercession of Servant of God Dorothy Day

God our Creator,
your servant Dorothy Day exemplified the
Catholic faith by her conversion,
life of prayer and voluntary poverty,
works of mercy, and witness to the justice and peace of the Gospel.

May her life inspire people to turn to Christ as their Savior and guide,
to see his face in the world’s poor and
to raise their voices for the justice of God’s kingdom.

We pray that you grant the favors we ask
through her intercession so that her goodness
and holiness may be more widely recognized
and one day the Church may proclaim her Saint.

For a complete schedule of events happening at the house this week, please click here.

There will be no Breakfast Brigade this week and next due to our trip to the School of the Americas and the Thanksgiving holidays. Please spread the word! When we return in December, there will be some changes. – stay tuned.

On Thursday, long-time friend of the house and doctoral student in engineering Dave Cheney will lead a roundtable entitled “Science and Religion: Where is Truth?” Please join us from 6-7:30, and bring a dish to share if you can.

If you are interested in a ride or in caravaning with us to Ft. Bening for the SOA protest, please give us a call or an email and we will try to hook you up. We will be leaving the houes at 9 on Friday morning, with one additional car leaving at 2pm. Please call ahead of time to make sure we have space for you if you need a ride.

One last heads up: There will also be no cafe next week on the day before Thanksgiving. A number of groups will be preparing massive holiday meals the following day, so we are taking a break to be with family!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DOROTHY DAY: Yesterday, November 8, would have been Dorothy’s 112th birthday. Many people believe Dorothy to have been the most influential Catholic of the 20th century, and it is indeed her witness that led our founding members to want to begin a Catholic Worker in Gainesville. For a brief blog entry that Kelli wrote yesterday about two of her great influences (Dorothy being one; Wendell Berry the other), click here.

WOMEN-ONLY ROUNDTABLE THIS WEEK: This Thursday at 6pm, we’ll hold our first ever “women-only” Roundtable. The topic is Women in Islam and we’ll be joined by women from the University of Florida group, Islam on Campus. This Roundtable will be an opportunity for women to dialogue across faith traditions, share their stories and build friendships. Kimberly set up a Facebook group for the Roundtable here. Pleas bring a dish to share if you can!

WANT TO LIVE AT THE GCW? We’ll be finalizing our in-house community for the Spring 2010 semester sometime in the next two weeks. Several folks have already inquired about living at the house as part of our immersion experience, the Metanoia semester. If you’re interested and want to know more, contact Johnny within the next 7-10 days and let us know of your interest.

WE NEED BLANKETS: With the recent cool nights, we have depleted our inventory of blankets at the house. Though the nights have been a little warmer the past few days, more cool nights are around the corner. Typically we give out between 5-15 blankets each of the first few days when a new cold front moves in. Feel free to drop blankets by the house before 10am each day or after 3pm.

JUSTFAITH AND FOOTBALL–SATURDAYS AT THE GCW: Thanks to the JustFaith groups which have been providing some snacks and beverages for the Saturday football games at the house several times this semester. JustFaith-Gainesville group #1 did a great job this past Saturday (a lot of football fans were here!), and JustFaith-Gainesville group #2 will be joining us for the South Carolina-UF game at 3:30pm this Saturday. Thanks so much!

Thanks again for your kindness and support! Hope to see you this week!

(We keep adding new folks regularly to our email list, but we also wanted to let people know that if they are on Facebook, the Gainesville Catholic Worker does have a Facebook page too and we’d love to have you join us there as well!)

ALL SAINTS DAY: Also called Day of the Dead, each November 1st we remember all those who have gone before us and their influence on our lives. Kelli wrote a reflection on this yesterday on her blog. At the GCW, we take the entire month of November to remember and recall the names of those people who have gone before us–family members, mentors, friends, heroes and heroines, and so on. We’ll have on display a board at the house where visitors, volunteers, guests and anyone else who passes through our doors can write the name of anyone they’d like us to remember in prayer this month.

FOOTBALL SATURDAYS CONTINUE: Special thanks to the JustFaith group from St. Catherine of Siena in Orange Park who provided sandwiches, iced tea, and snack foods for a lively group of folks who took in the Florida-Georgia game at our home this past weekend. This Saturday, we have another JustFaith group, this one from Gainesville, providing snacks and beverages for the LSU-Alabama game (UF-Vandy is on ESPN and we don’t get cable). This is a chance for some of our friends who may not have anywhere else to relax on Saturdays to join us for some camaraderie and fun while watching football at the house. Thanks to the groups who continue to make this happen. Photos from past games can be found here.

MOVIE AND MASS THIS WEEK: On Wednesday, at 7pm, we’ll be showing the award-winning documentary, Trouble the Water, a movie that despite having Hurricane Katrina as its backdrop, says, “It is not about a hurricane… It’s about America.” And on Thursday at 6pm, we’ll be celebrating our First Thursday Mass with Fr. John Phillips at the house. Everyone is welcome to join us and we’ll follow the service with a potluck dinner (so bring a dish to share if you can!)

SCHOOL OF THE AMERICAS TRIP: Each November, we take a group of folks to the annual vigil and action to close the School of the Americas in Columbus, GA. It is important that we get an accurate count of who will be joining us so we have enough car-space and hotel-space once we get there. To confirm that you plan on coming (we’ll be leaving Friday, November 20 at around 9am and returning Sunday, November 22 in the early evening), either sign up on the Facebook page for the eventor email us back confirming your interest asap.

Hope everyone has a good week and we look forward to seeing you around the house!